Did You Hear The One About The Bosnian Guy Digging a Hole In His Garden?

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Since the fall of the USSR and the beginning of the end for Communism in Europe, things in Yugoslavia where starting to change. Elections in Croatia and Slovenia which resulted in victory for independence minded candidates spurned Slobodan Milošević's government to attempt to declare a state of emergency which would allow the army to take control of the region. Whilst most of the Yugoslav republics agreed to this, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Hercegovina declined. Croatia and Slovenia proposed transforming Yugoslavia into a confederation of republics but Mr Milošević was having none of this... armed conflict was not far away. Slovenia, perched on the North-Western tip of Yugoslavia escaped with independence after only a 10 day war and continued to prosper to what is now the economically progressive country which ascended into the European Union in 2004. Macedonia, to the south of Serbia, gained independence relatively peacefully and Montenegro, which is still oficially attached to Serbia, will have an independence vote next month. However, in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, bloody and ruthless conflict was on the cards. In Coratia, areas heavily populated by Serbs fought against independence with the backing of the Yugoslav army. Despite independence being internationally recognised in 1992, conflict between the Serbs and the Croats countinued until 1995 leaving untold destruction. In Bosnia, things were a little more complicated. Years of Ottoman rule had resulted in a predominantly muslim population but large Serbian and Croatian populations also existed. An independence vote was boycotted by the majority of Bosnian Serbs and the subsequent declaration of independence from Yugoslavia sparked a brutal conflict. The Bosniak people found themselves fighting two wars at the same time. In the west, they fought over disputed territory against Croatians and in the east they fought against Serbs, backed heavily by Yugoslavia and Milošević's vision of a Greater Serbia that had little respect for Bosnian independence. A 1994 peace deal with Croatia in which the joint confederation of Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnia-Hercegovina) was formed meant relative peace in the west but the war with Serbia continued. The highly organised Serbian Army with countless resources held the capital Sarajevo under siege for nearly 4 years, UN troops in the region were effectively powerless . By the time NATO forces launched attacks on Serbian troops in 1996, and a subsequnt peace treaty was signed, over 100,000 people had died and over 2 million had been displaced. Worst of all were the horrors of Srebrenica, a town where over 8000 Bosniak men, from teenagers to pensioners, were systematically massacred by the Serb Army in the largest mass murder since World War II. What remains is a devestated country trying desperately to rebuild itself. At present it consists of three regions: Republica Srpska (Predominantly Serbian and Orthodox), Bosnia (Predominantly Bosniak and Muslim) and Hercegovina (Predominantly Croatian and Christian).

I apologise to those who know more than me about the region for this very brief and perhaps slightly innaccurate history of Bosnia-Hercegovina but feel it is an important thing to know before you read on.

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I had been looking forward to Bosnia-Hercegovina the whole trip, everything I read about the place made me want to go there... I wasn't dissapointed. The bus stumbled through the lofty mountains in the west, it was sunday afternoon and the whole country seemed to be sitting in their front gardens drinking beer as they watched the world go by. Sarajevo was a capital like none other I'd seen, set in a valley with it's suburbs climbing up the mountains surrounding it. In the centre, the restored Turkish quarter where tourists like me can be found was peaceful and so unlike everywhere else I'd been so far... I was firmly inside Europe but felt as if I was a million miles from it. The small lanes, lined with tacky souvenir shops, beautiful antique shops and small little cafes give way to the Couldbeanywhereineurope Street full of chain stores which in turn gives way to the busy road with Sarajevo's twin towers and the Holiday Inn (which seem to be Sarajevo's only ugly buildings) on the infamous airport road, part of which was named Sniper Alley as Serb snipers used to pick off civilians corssing the street here during the siege of the capital. Laid back is the only word that could really describe the atmosphere of this place, calm and contented looking people stroll around as if it's a warm summer evening, countless cats roam the streets with the same style. The city is scarred though and reminders of conflict are everywhere. Sarajevo Roses, shell marks in the pavement, are seen at random intervals and every building seems to be scattered with bullet holes. My Hostel had a shell hole in the side of it.

Unfortunately, time was running out until I had to fly to Thailand and I had less than 2 weeks to get to Tirana so I couldn't stay in Sarajevo as long as I'd have liked to, I was kicking myself for not setting aside more time for this part of Europe. That said, there's not too many tourist attractions in Sarajevo so I could spend my only full day here wandering around and enjoying the atmosphere without feeling like I was missing out on anything. Historically, Sarajevo is a crossroads of eastern and western cultures, walking around the city it's impossible to notice. In the centre there is a Mosque, a Synagogue, an Orthodox church and a Catholic cathederal all within 150 metres of each other; apparently this is the only city aside from Jerusalem to have such a thing. I walked around them all, trying not to think of the world's ethnic tensions and religious hatred; at least at some point in history people respected each other's beliefs enough to build their places of worship in such close proximity. The mosque was beautiful, I didn't go inside as prayers were occuring but I admired the building and hung around in the courtyard. The loadspeaker made mesmerising sounds which made me tingle, I may be an atheist but I can still be moved by religion. I walked up to the Holiday Inn, home of journalists during the siege, and wondered how the architect could ever have designed such an unpleasant looking building before walking down to the Miljacka river. The river is largely unremarkable and straddled by equally unremarkable bridges. One of the prettier bridges, however, was the scene of probably the most pivotal moment of the 20th century. On 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg Crown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assasinated by Serbian Nationalists. This precipitated a cascade of events which resulted in Austria declaring war on Serbia. In support of Serbia, Russia mobilized troops and in turn Germany, in support of Austria, declared war on Russia. Germany then mobilized troops towards France, invading Belgium which prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. Of course, the full causes of World War I are infinitely complicated and this event was only the excuse needed for a war which seemed inevitable but the moment was remarkable nonetheless. I wondered if there had ever been such a point in history when one bullet had killed so many people.

As in Belgrade, I was very lucky with who I met... the hostel was just teeming with great people. I met Andy, an out of work pilot from New Zealand who was working in a backpacker's hostel in Bristol; Danielle and Amanda who were Australian law students studying in Europe; Jim an American who was at the end of an 8 month European trip; Josh and Maureen, American cousins who were on a Round the World Trip; Sebastian, a Belgian who was backpacking in the region and an Australian guy from Edinburgh (sorry, name forgotten) who was in training for the London Marathon. We all went out for a drink in a local brewery where we realised why Bosnian beer isn't world famous then off to another bar in the city were we sat outside and chatted the night away. We got onto the subject of travel stories, Danielle spoke about climbing mount Kilimanjiro and her deciding to head off alone to Africa when she was only 18. Andy, told a story about his trip to Africa and how he ended up living in the UK which just made me realise how crazy life can be sometimes. Once he had qualified as a pilot he headed off to Botswana in search of work. After a few weeks and still unemployed, he had gone to Namibia and had an incident at an ATM in Windhoek. A group of men had spotted he was having trouble getting his card to fit in the machine and one of them took it from him to insert it for him. With amazing slight of hand, the man appeared as if he had inserted the card into the ATM but had actually stolen it. He said to Andy to type in his PIN and it should work, of course it didn't. By the time he had realised what was up, the guys had run away so Andy shouted to a local security guard and told what had happened. Before he knew it, he was joining the police and security guards on a search through the streets of Windhoek. A policeman saw a car coming and stopped it by pointing his gun at the driver. He then proceeded to drag the driver from the car whilst pointing his gun in the guy's face. Andy was trying to tell the police that this was not the guy but they didn't seem to care and wanted to just hassle some random person. The police subsequently got bored and departed leaving Andy in a very uncomfortable situation that he just ran away from. The hype over, Andy was left in a position where his only bank card was gone, he'd discovered that he couldn't get a new one sent to him in Botswana or Namibia and had no immediate means of procuring other cash. With only a few dollars to his name, he headed back to Botswana. He had a ticket onwards to London for a future visit and managed to change this back to New Zealand and bring it forward for two weeks time, he lived on small rations of bread and cheese until the flight. The day of departure came and he walked to the Airport in good time in case of any problems. As he checked in, there was no record of his amended booking. Told by the check-in staff that they could do nothing, he had to head back to the travel agency in town to confirm he definitely did have a ticket on this flight. Back at the airport he met with a wall of beaurocracy and again was told there was no booking. Getting desperate he phoned the agency who told him of course he had a booking. Andy was getting increasingly frustrated when a call over the PA system asked him to go back to the ticket desk, a man escorted him to a small room in the back offices and told him yes they have the booking but his boarding pass could only be issued courtesy of a $50us "administration fee". With no cash to give the corrupt employee he came away minus his camera. The ticket he had been given was only good to get him to the capital and he still needed to get to Johannesburg and then to Christchurch; it seemed more bribery may be necessary. As he got to his next destination he was called immediately to the ticket desk and got his boarding card to Johannesburg problem free but the airline only had a ticket onwards to London for him. He told them he had booked back to New Zealand but again, there was no record of the booking. So, with no alternative he went to London. Luckily he had a British Passport and grandparents in the UK so only having $2us to his name was not a problem. Two years later he was still there, a place he had come to by accident, living his life and looking for work as a pilot.

The evening progressed and people left until it was just me, Jim, Josh and Andy. The bar we were in wasn't that nice so we headed off in search of another. A good 30 mintue walk around Sarajevo and we ended up where we started; it was still quite early but everywhere was closed. I thought about how this place is bound to become a top tourist destination at some point in the future, how Easyjet and Ryanair would inevitably get in on the game and groups of lads would direct their drinking holidays in the Sarajevo direction. At some point in the future I'm sure I'll utter the words "I can remember a time when you couldn't get a drink past midnight in Sarajevo". One more drink and we headed off home; on the way I stopped with Jim and Josh at a non stop bakery and ended up standing out on the square chattinging for a good hour. We got into politics and philosophy, my favourite subjects. It wasn't challenging conversation as we all came from the same viewpoints but it was great conversation; I feel we could have stayed there chatting all night.

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"This is your driver, he likes hip hop... I hope you all like hip hop".

Before I headed off to Mostar the next day there was time to go on a tour with Sunny, the guy who ran the hostel. And so I sat with most of the guys from last night in a minibus driven by an old man who loved to play Eminem really loud. First stop was the Tunnel Museum in a village by Sarajevo airport. Between 1992 and 1996 Sarajevo was under siege from Serbian forces who had parked their tanks on the mountains surrounding the city and cut off all supply routes, leaving the city with no food water or electricity. The UN stepped in with the best of intentions and struck a deal with Serbian forces which would allow them to control the airport so as to bring in aid. However, many here condsider that more harm was done than good as the deal involved Serbian troops getting half the aid and an agreement being made that NATO wouldn't attack Serbian troops. What the UN moving to the airport had done though was it was easier for Bosnian troops to dig a secret tunnel underneath the airport to the village which became a vital suppy route for the city. Electricity and telephone lines went through it and day by day people would journey through the 800m tunnel bringing back to the city as many vital supplies as they could carry. Of course, Serbian Troops and the UN knew about the it was but never found out where it was exactly; it probably saved Sarajevo. We got to see what is the only remaining 25 metres of the tunnel and carried a 30kg backpack through it. The ceiling was maybe only 160cm high, the tunnel was often flooded... it must have been a gruelling journey.

After the musem we headed to a Jewish Cemetery on a hilltop whilst Sunny sat and told us a bit about Sarajevo. He told how it had always been a tolerant city and despite ethnic tensions in the country, the people had always generally got on. Even during the siege, 20% of the Bosnian Serb population had stayed with their neighbours to be attacked by their own people; the Bosnian army was muslims, christians, jews and orthodox Serbs fighting side by side. He told how during Nazi occupation in World War II the citizens helped as many of the Jewish population as possible to escape and how the Muslim community had agreed to hide a sacred jewish scripture, that the Nazis wanted to destroy, in a local Mosque. It was the kind of story that restores your faith in human nature, reminds you that we're all playing the same game and that all this conflict over ethnicity and religious differences it just so rediculous. Sunny went on to tell us some stories about the siege. People lived day to day and were at the constant mercy of Serbian snipers in the hills who would shoot civilians or sometimes just shoot their water cannisters to remind them who's the boss. He told a sickening story about foreign journalists who paid children to run across the street in Sniper Ally in order to film some good footage.

An average of 337 shells fell on Sarajevo each day of the four year siege, on one day in 1993 over 3700 shells fell; 35 000 buildings were destroyed, the rest were damaged. Not only administrative buildings but schools and hospitals were targeted; 68 civilians were killed one day when a shell hit a market. By the end of the siege an estimated 12 000 had been killed and 50 000 injured. What hit me most about all of this was how recent it was. It occurred to me that almost everyone here over the age of 10 had lived through a war and those over the age of 26 had most likely fought in it. When the siege ended I was 13 years old, at this point in my life I cared about TV, computer games and football and would moan about anthing that didn't involve sitting around being self-indulgent. Someone the same age in Sarajevo had lived through food and water shortages, gone to school in an underground shelter, been dodging bombs and bullets since they were 9 and had probably made a few trips through the tunnel as well. It was one of those humbling moments, when you realise how easy life is in our bubble that is the west and how hard it has been for some people. This, and everything I'd learned over the past week or so, made me think a little. I considered of the shallow pointlessness in building up a DVD collection of aspiring towards having a great car, in having an aim in life, that so many people seem to have, which is to accumulate posessions in the vain hope that one day they may make you happy. It occurred to me that the peaceful, content feel in Sarajevo may be because people don't need this false existence but are just happy to be safe, to enjoy the company of their friends and sit in a cafe or walk around the city. I don't know... I'd only been here 3 days and could in no way claim to be in a position to know much about the place and it's people but this is how things seemed to me. My brain was flooded by deep thoughts, something that had happened a lot over the last few days. I'm not naive enough to believe that change in a human can be brought about in only a few days but since getting to this part of Europe I found myself questioning things and trying to put life in perspective a little more. I've been considering the life I've found myslef living in relation to the rest of the world and realising just how lucky I am.

We drove up to a mountain that gave a fantastic view of Sarajevo, My thoughts spiralled towards questioning the current state of the world... why things are happening, why people act the way they do, how the hell power seems to be in the hands of the people who just use it to push their own agenda... and I'm talking about all walks of life, not just power in governments and business. It's important to learn, to question and to think about life, I mean really think about it. I decided that at this point maybe I should stop thinking so much but my mind wouldn't rest. These are thoughts that have always been in my head but seemed to be becoming the main focus of my conciousness. I hoped that I could keep on this train of thought and develop it as my trip continued through Asia and that I can really gain something that will shape my mind forever. And then I wondered it I would just lose it all when I got back home, back to the luxury of a British lifestyle, and become apathetic and insulated. I don't know, I hope not but you never know what will happen so maybe it's just better to think about today and enjoy this fantastic view of Sarajevo.

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So... the one about the Bosnian guy digging a hole in his garden... it's a Sarajevo joke from during the siege. His neighbour approaches him and asks
"Why are you digging that hole?".
The man replies "Maybe if I dig deep enough I'll strike oil and somebody will come and rescue us".

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Photos

Sarajevo
The Turkish Quarter

Sarajevo
The Turkish Quarter

Sarajevo
War Scarred Buildings

Sarajevo
Miljacka River and Latin Bridge

Sarajevo
View From the Hostel

Sarajevo
War Tunnel

The Road to Mostar
Ahead of the next blog, just a few photos from the beautiful drive down to Mostar.

Comments

[Kevin]

Really feels like you're travelling now
When i went to Mostar, really wanted to go to Sarajevo, now def do, great country, sad recent history.

[Andy]

Great place, hope it stays that way
I loved my trip there, everyones so positive, such a refreshing feeling after living in the UK. Can only hope that the low cost revolution doesn't turn such an amazing place to a generic piss up town for lad parties. Great blod mate Andy